Not The Girl I Thought I Knew
by ilovepuppies125
Summary: When Tucker finds Paulina alone and upset, he can't help but want to help her. The problem is, she continues to push him away. What problems and secrets could this rich girl be hiding? Will she be able to lower her walls and let him in? And if she does, how will Danny and Sam react? Could she possibly be getting to close to Danny's secret?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everybody. This is a new story idea that I came up with. I recently read a TuckerXPaulina pairing story and I loved the idea of them together. As a result, I wanted to try writing one of them together for myself. *Note: I have a lot of stories on my plate and this one is not exactly my top priority, I just wanted to get at least the first chapter out there. This story will be updated when the inspiration strikes me (whenever that may be), so prepare for inconsistencies, but, I hope you enjoy it anyway, please review if you do **

Chapter 1:

Tucker POV-

Today had started out as an average day for me. I had gotten up, gone to school, talked with Danny and Sam, and made a good grade on a pop quiz assigned in Lancer's class, nothing out of the ordinary there. It wasn't until seventh period when I went looking for the computer applications teacher that things became…different, and for Amity Park, that is saying something.

"Mr. Bender?" I called, pushing open the door to the dark computer lab. I walked in a little farther to the secluded back room where his desk was. Nope, not there either. I sighed, turning around to head out of the room. If I hadn't been paying attention, I would not have noticed the designer shoe sticking out from under one of the desks. I frowned, it was definitely a girl's shoe, but as far as I new, Mr. Bender didn't have many female students, certainly none that could afford shoes like that. I walked slowly over to the desk. As I got closer, the owner of the shoe, pulled her leg farther under the desk, trying to hide, as if I hadn't already seen her.

I crouched down and looked under the desk. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the dark, but when they did, I saw someone I had not expected to ever see in the computer lab.

"Paulina?" I asked, partially to substantiate what I was seeing and partially to question what she was doing in the dark, empty, computer lab.

"Go away," she mumbled, I heard a slight sniffle to her voice, like she had been upset.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked her. I heard a sigh and she slowly crawled out from under the desk.

"I was _trying _to be alone," she told me, standing up and crossing her arms in front of her chest. Even in the dim light I could see that she had definitely been crying, because the sides of her eyes were red and wet with unshed tears.

"What's wrong?" I wondered. Immediately she stiffened defensively, and deepened the glare she was giving me.

"Nothing. It's none of your business," she pushed passed me and headed out of the room. I sighed as I watched her go. I couldn't go after her, I don't really even_ know _her, but it did bother me to see her upset, or any girl upset for that matter.

When I was young, like four years old, my mom had been married to my dad, my _real _dad. He was abusive to her, a lot, so she was constantly upset, and being four years old, there was nothing I could do to help her.

Finally, she got the courage to file charges against him and get a divorce and a year later my mom married my step dad who has raised me, and had been a good dad to me, ever since. He has been so present in my life that Danny and Sam don't even know that he is not my real father, and I have not had the heart to tell them otherwise. Anyway, I had hated feeling so useless while my mom was so upset, and now, seeing Paulina like this, I couldn't help but feel the same amount of helplessness, despite everything Paulina has done to me, Danny and Sam over the years.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

'_Who cares?' _I reminded myself, '_She has been nothing but mean to us since we have known her. Why should I care that she is upset?' _

And with that thought, although I had a hard time convincing myself that this was actually true, I left the computer lab, closing the door behind me as I continued the search for my teacher.

At lunch, my thoughts could not stop drifting to Paulina.

'_What would have made her so upset?' _I repeatedly wondered.

I am a strong believer that things and people are not always as they appear (I mean take Danny for example) so, at the same time, I couldn't help but wonder if Paulina had problems that were deeper than her shallow exterior.

"Dude, are you okay?" Danny asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I blinked, looking at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I just have a lot on my mind, that's all," I assured him. Danny nodded, but he obviously was not convinced, and turned back to his conversation with Sam.

At that moment, Paulina walked into the cafeteria laughing with her popular group of friends. She made eye contact with me for only a brief second before turning her gaze cold and turning up her nose. But from that one second, I could see that there was still sadness in her eyes, and that meant that the laughter was forced and fake.

I sighed internally. I am also a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, (again, take Danny for example. If he had not gotten ghost powers, than, we probably would all have been dead from the ghost attacks that occurred since then). That would mean that I was _supposed _to see her earlier today. And unfortunately, for me, that means that, for whatever reason, I felt the need to find out why she was crying in the lab and why she now felt the need to hide her feelings from her so-called friends.

'_Great,' _I thought sarcastically, '_This is going to mean future embarrassment and possibly pain for me, isn't it?'_

I didn't bother to answer my rhetorical question because it was already obvious to me that would come out of this experience unscathed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Tucker POV-

It wasn't until the next morning that I saw Paulina again.

I was early to school, as I usually am, and being the first out of my group of friends to arrive (Sam arriving a few minutes before the bell, and Danny, always late fighting ghosts), I decided to head to the school courtyard.

The courtyard was mostly empty, except for a few faculty members who were scurrying through with stacks of papers. And then, there was Paulina.

It took me a second to notice her, a rare thing for Paulina; she had her legs curled up next to her…reading a book?

I sucked in a deep breath.

'_Well, here goes nothing,' _I thought, moving towards her. Without looking up, she must have noticed my movement in her direction because, as I approached, she immediately threw the book to the side almost as if it had burned her, and picked up a Teen Vogue Magazine, pretending to be deeply immersed in the shallow fashion advice, before looking up with an exaggerated sigh.

When she noticed it was me, she put the magazine down and gave me a look of distaste while crossing her arms.

I picked up the book. It was _To Kill a Mockingbird _the hardback edition.

I had read it, we had all read it in eighth grade, and, as far as I knew, none of the classes in the school were currently reading it.

"Here, I think you dropped this," I told her, handing over the book.

"Yeah, whatever," she sneered snatching the book from my hands and stuffing it into her bag, before promptly ignoring me, holding up the magazine so that she couldn't see my face.

"So, you're here early," I pointed out, sitting at the nearby picnic table.

She ignored me, dramatically flipping the pages.

"Any particular reason you're here early and sitting all by yourself?" I prodded.

She sighed, before dropping the magazine and glaring at me.

"Well I _was_ here all by myself, but apparently losers like you think it's okay to come and talk to me," she stood up, collecting her things, "And, if you must know, Dash had early football practice. He brought me to school," she stalked off, her nose high in the air.

'_I'm going to regret this,' _but even as I recognized this, I continued to follow her, easily walking and keeping her pace next to her.

"Who are you putting a show on for?" I asked her, "There's no one else around to see you talking to me or reading a book."

She seemed to almost consider this, I say "almost" because if you would have blinked, you would have missed the second of hesitation flash across her face before she, once again, resumed her snooty attitude.

"Listen," she crossed her arms, impatiently, "I don't know what makes you think that you have the right to talk to me, or that I have to answer you. But there _is _no show, and I was _not _reading a book," she feigned a shudder of disgust, "now leave me alone, tech geek," she ordered, once again sauntering off, trying to convey a sense of her superiorityto an invisible audience.

"So I take it that you _won't _tell me why you were so upset yesterday?" I pressed. Man, I really do not know when to let up do I?

She paused in her walk, tensing in her shoulders before immediately whipping around to face me.

"Let's get something straight, geek. I _was NOT _upset, do you hear me? I just needed some time to myself, just like I needed this morning, which you are refusing to allow me to have," she said in a dangerously low whisper, getting close to my face.

"Paulina!" I heard an angry voice shout, and, this close to her, I saw her suddenly go pale, immediately turning back around, whipping me in the face with her hair in the process.

"Yes, Dash?" she asked innocently, but I could hear the edge of fear and anxiety hanging in her words.

"What are you doing, talking to this loser?" he asked, coming next to her and putting a protective arm around her shoulder (a little too protective if you ask me) and glaring me down.

Paulina looked like she didn't know how to answer, that is, if he would have let her answer, because he released her, passing her behind him as he came close to me, towering over me by at least a foot.

"Paulina was just telling me about your winning streak, the football team is undefeated, right?" I lied smoothly, and Dash accepted the bait, glad to have the focus back on him.

"Hell yeah!" Dash cheered, getting high fives from the two other football players standing behind Paulina. And I noticed that her face held a mixture of confusion and gratitude as she looked at me.

Then Dash seemed to remember that I was still standing here in the midst of their conversation.

He turned back to me, once again deciding to use his obvious advantage in size to push me down in the dirt.

"Wail on you later, Foley!" he called, getting high fives from his friends as they all left. But I couldn't help but notice that Paulina looked back at me with a look of…almost, what I would consider…concern.

I gave her a reassuring smile, and she scowled turning back to face her boyfriend.

'_Ugh, why does she have to show concern?' _I mentally groaned in frustration. Now, I can't even write her off as an unfeeling popular girl. And why did I have to see her face when Dash came around? That just made it all the more obvious that there was trouble in the paradise of her perfect little world. And Dash, as much as I hated to admit it (considering how obvious he has made it that he can beat me up), was defiantly a cause of part of her distress.


End file.
